Archive for January, 2006

Yeah, I know there hasn’t been a whole lot of knitting content ’round these parts. This week, I can safely say it’s because I’ve done no knitting!!!

I KNOW!

WTF, right?

The craziest part about that is I have NO GOOD REASON WHATSOEVER!

I’m off from the yarn store this week in order to fill in for the girl who normally does the midday spot (10a-3p baby, listen to me at work!!!), which means I have LOADS AND LOADS of free time!

(loads and loads might be an exagerration. What I mean to say is that I have normal-people free time, where you get up in the morning, grab coffee, go to work, come home, and have the night freeeeeeeeee! I LOVE IT! )

You must be wondering, “If you’re not KNITTING, what the hell are you DOING with all this supposed free time?”

Getting lured to really lame parties at bars in MALLS. I so should have stayed home and folded laundry.

GOING TO THE GYM! Ok, I only went ONCE this week so far, and it’s TOTALLY nullified by the bullet point below, but I STILL WENT!

Baking cupcakes! mmmmmm. cuupcaaaaaakes.

omgilovecupcakesSOmuch!

Thankfully, we were smart enough to take 20 of our 24 cupcakes to work where the cupcake vultures snatched them up REAL quick

I guess I just haven’t FELT like knitting. I take it out… I sit it next to me on the couch… but then? Nothing.

Wierd.

We can look at pictures of my NON-progress though, I guess…

JAYWALKER 1

(in case you are thinking Hayley is being loving and sweet there, let me set you straight and inform you that she is trying to EAT my addi turbos. Apparently, I will SHOVE the cat aside to save my addis, shouting things like “HAYLEY! GET YOUR DAMN FANGS OFF THAT! DO YOU KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE THOSE ARE!?!?)

The stripes are getting a tad fun-kay, though. See the funkiness?

I’ll have to keep going to see how it turns out, but I’m a tad worried. Then again, you EITHER see the foot OR the ankle, rarely both at the same time, soooo, it’s all good. (don’t argue with me, I need my rationalizations!!!)

I’m also working on my roomie’s Hanukkah scarf. Yes, I am aware that Hanukkah ended forever ago. I gave it to her wrapped up on the needles on the 5th night and she is patiently awaiting its completion I’d say I’m a wee bit over half done with it at this point.

This weekend, Chelsea and I are going to see Colin Meloy at the Birchmere. Both will be a first for me (Colin and the Birchmere), so it should be a good time…maybe there will even be cute boys there! WOO!

Taking that into account, if someone invites me to a party, I should go, right?

Even if the party is in a city 4 hours away?

Whatever. I figured, what the hell? I was planning on going out and getting my drink/dance on here, why not do it in NYC?

Being that I’m not livin’ large, one might wonder how I can just run off to NY on a whim. TWO WORDS, BABY:

CHINATOWN BUS

$35 ROUND TRIP.

Free party, free place to crash, and $35 RT bus ticket? HOW COULD I NOT GO?

Yes, I know, I know, those buses have been in the news, but NO, my bus did NOT spontaneously burst into flames or run off the road or ANYTHING shady like that. My only complaint is that the tall, leggy man sitting next to me did not understand the concept of his space vs. my space. Also, due to the high quantities of food purchased in Chinatown and brought on board, the bus kinda sorta smelled like egg roll the whole way back. EW. Just sayin’.

HOWEVER, I survived. AND I got to watch MOVIES on the bus! WOOT!

To make the deal even BETTER, my cousins on Long Island have an apartment in the city that they were kind enough to lend me for the night!

Dude.

Jealous doesn’t even BEGIN to describe it. Their place is GORGEOUS! Check this out:

amazing, right?

It’s right on Columbus circle, practically next door to Lincoln Center and a 2 second walk from Central Part West/South. AND THE VIEW! Very NYC….

I {{heart}} that apt.

The whole purpose of the trip though, was to hang with my friends and celebrate A3’s birthday…

That’s the birthday boy right there.

Not the best pic, but it’s all I got. You can check out more pics from the party by clicketyclicking over to here.

Apparently, I had a pretty good time, as shown in THIS lovely drunkydrunk pic…

WHEEEE!

Eventually though, I think I turned into a pumpkin and passed out in the corner. :-\ And my feet huuuurrrrrt. NYC girls apparently know how to buy sensible shoes. LongIsland turned MD/DC girl? Not so much. I did manage to find myself a cab and get myself ‘home’ though, so all ended well. AND I CAN STILL WALK (even better!!!).

Sunday was spent sleeping in, trying to rustle up hungover friends for brunch, failing at rustling up said friends, eating a NYC hot dog and walking over to Central Park.

In keeping with the resolution theme of the weekend, I went skating at Wollman Rink!!

A bit expensive for the paltry amount of free time I had left by then, but screw it, it was fun!

Clearly, I am not a TRUE knitter, as I trashed any ideas of yarn shop crawling in favor of ice skating, but I DID get some knitting done on the ride home…

see leggy man’s stupid knee crowding me? pffth!

I’m mid-way up the cuff on my first jaywalker!!!! The striping is getting wierd as hell, but I’ll have to keep going to see if i like it or not. Can’t tell yet.

All-in-all, a good weekend was had. Now, if I can just find me a copy of THIS, life would be sweeeeet!

Saturday night, I went out to dinner with Amy and Chelsea. Somehow, during the course of the evening, the topic of exercise came up. While Chelsea has always been more of the active type (with the hiking and biking and triathalons and what-not)… Amy and I, weeellll…. we like our couches. A lot.

I’ve been seeing Laurent off and on since the summer, but really? I think it’s f’in torture. I whine and pout and sulk through the entire hour I spend with him. I take an excessive quantity of water breaks and SOMETIMES, I even sit down in protest!

I’m not a fan of the gym.

Neither, apparently, is Amy.

Now, hypocritical me, who HATES her methods of exercise, told Amy that she just needs to find something she loves to do, and then she’ll WANT to exercise.

It’s a theory that makes sense, right? One I myself ought to consider more seriously, maybe? I HATE my workouts (well, strongly dislike), therefore, I should be looking for something I love to do, right?

So, I’m sitting on the couch watching Sasha Cohen do her exhibition routine this afternoon and noticing that she can throw her leg up so high in an arabesque that it becomes perpendicular to the ice. Holy shit.

Then, I start having flashbacks to all the ballet and ice skating lessons I took as a kid.

Actually? The ice skating lessons were when I was 15. I dropped out.

Sidestory: There is nothing more embarassing than a 15-year old, competing at the ALPHA (read: SUPER BEGINNER) LEVEL, surrounded by six-year-olds doing sit-spins, who can’t skate a straight line because her knees are shaking. Perhaps you might be thinking that the aforementioned scenario is not that embarassing. Well, add to it the fact I won the gold medal for my ‘performance’.

Gold.

Medal.

I wobbled and shook and stumbled my way through the easiest level of competition and I won a GOLD MEDAL.

Wanna know why?

BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE OVER THE AGE OF *8* WAS COMPETING ON MY LEVEL!

Default, baby, I won by *DEFAULT.*

{{sigh}}

So sad.

ANYWAY, so I’m watching Sasha and having flashbacks and GENIUS strikes me!

One day a week I’ll take Ballet (which, when done right, is FABULOUS strength training using your own body weight and gravity as resistance), one day I’ll SKATE, and ONE day, I will endure the torture that is Laurent (althought I love him dearly, he tortures me).

Now, if I can just figure out how to PAY for this geniusly $$$$ plan, I’ll be golden

Meanwhile, I will continue to sit on my mostly-lazy ass and knit

Speaking of…

THE FIRST FO OF 2006!!!

MINI RINGEL SOCKS!

You never really know how much something means to you until you lose it. Seriously, I have been LOST without a digital camera. It is only thanks to Holly that I can share my sockies with you. AND! My *favorite* part about them?

THEY MATCH!

They are *nearly* identical! I LOVE!

Of course, I was only able to last so long without a camera. So, since Friday was PAYDAY, I decided to suck it up and fork over some cash for a NEW CAMERA! WOOOHOOO!!!! (my checkbook doesn’t share my excitement, but we will disregard.) I bought the camera *just* in time to share with you…

TOE-UP JAYWALKER 1!!

I am knitting the smaller-size jaywalkers on 2 circs (size US1) using some of my Rhinebeck SOCKS THAT ROCK (of course!)! The colorway is Pebble Beach and I ADORE IT! I even know the EXACT outfit I am going to wear with them when they are finished (because matching my outfits to my handknit socks is apparently something I do now)!!

People have been hyping up this Blunt character and I totally see why. That CD is pretty f’in awesome. Good shit. For reals.

I was super-excited to get it though, mostly for ONE song my friends keep telling me about.

Supposedly, it’s soo good, it’ll totally make you cry*. The damn thing made Eby tear up when she first heard it and Kristine’s been prescribing it to friends who need a push over the edge (you can fight it all you want, but sometimes you NEED to cry.).

I’m a CRIER. Sometimes I wonder if maybe I kinda LIKE the crying. I don’t think that’s really TRUE per se, but I do have some sort of warped appreciation for creative works that can get to me that way. It MUST be beautiful/brilliant/meaningful/deep/thought provoking/whathaveyou if I’m SOBBING at the end, right? ( Then again, I cried like a baby when the ghost of Mufasa came out of the clouds in “The Lion King,” so I’m not sure my crying is much of a barometer of ANYTHING really except for how much of an easy cry I must be.)
Anyway.

So I listened to it.

“Goodbye My Lover”

And it’s good.

And *maybe* I got a little misty by the end.

If I had been anywhere NEAR either side of a breakup, I would have flooded the car in a sobbing FIT.

For sure.

But here’s the thing.

It got me thinking…about everything. My relationships and breakups, my friends’ relationships and breakups, and all the Men-are-asshat-shitfuckers-with-no-souls type comments that inevitably follow.

Guys, it’s not true.

Eventually, we ALL put ourselves out there and eventually, we ALL get our hearts broken. We love and we get loved. We hurt and we get hurt. That’s the way it works. For EVERYONE. Girls AND Guys.

Don’t look at me that way.

It’s TRUE.

For every perfect girlfriend, there is a girl who tore a heart to shreds. Both of those girls might very well be YOU. As angelic as you may think you are, you *were* the cause of someone’s pain once. Or you WILL be. Whether you meant it or not –whether you KNEW it or not.

Right about now, I’m starting to wonder what the fuck my point is.

…

(you are too, huh…?)

Basically it’s this. They’re not all shit. We’re not all saints. We’re all just people living and breathing and generally getting banged up and scarred no matter what we do. Some try harder than others, some don’t try at all and SOME, guys AND girls, are definately going to whatever version of hell they believe in.

For every soul-less asshat shit-fucker of a man, there IS a James Blunt singing “Goodbye my Lover,” and eventually, if you’re lucky, he just might find you after all, if he hasn’t already.

Now, excuse me while I go puke

* The song that REALLY made me bust out with the crying was “No Bravery”. Check that one out too.**This photo-less entry was brought to you by the digital camera that is laughing at me from the back of a cab somewhere. Stay tuned for next entry, when photo-hungry Lara relies on the camera-kindness of friends.